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Month: September 2015

She let out a big giggle around 4:30am while fast asleep. About ten minutes later, a smaller one. Guess she’s even overflowing with happiness while she sleeps. As it should be for her age. As it should be.

Thinking about light needing 100,000 years to cross the Milky Way galaxy from the project we did the night before…

Me – “It takes eight minutes for light from the sun to reach us.”

Her – “Has it been eight minutes?”

I asked some questions to figure out she meant how long we had been in the car

Me – “Oh yeah. It’s more like fifteen or twenty minutes that we’ve been driving.”

Then I sort of went off on a tangent about time…

Me – “The clock time says 7:40, but the real time is now.” And coming up with a little saying that I though she might like – “My favorite time of the day is right now… and to think that the sun is just one of 2 billion stars in our galaxy…”

Her – “Is that more than infinity?”

Me – “No infinity goes on forever.”

A pause

Her – “Do footprints go on forever?”

Me – “What do you mean?”

She giggled and went on…

Her – “You know how when you look right into the sun and then close your eyes you see a picture? I just did that, and I saw my footprints.”

Didn’t really know how to respond.

Me – “Well, in a way our footprints do last forever. Who we are and the way we live our lives is left behind and, in a way, goes on forever.”

Thinking I had said something profound for her to chew on, I settled into my chair, the conversation capped off. She quickly topped it, though, with an anti-climactic statement

The latest one is with combing her hair. Suddenly, I see her with a comb, well, frequently. And it’s not a quick brush, brush. It’s a long drawn out hair follicle massage she gives herself.

This is quite curious to me as I have at least 20 gray hairs that owe their existence to asking her to comb her hair, asking her again when she wanders off in between my request and her finding her misplaced comb… then asking again when she hasn’t done it and resists, complains… “Why do I have to?”

Will I start to miss the days when she wandered and resisted? Will more gray hairs come as I wait and wait and wait for her to finish.

Hoping to avoid such an existence.

I told her this morning not to end up like someone I know who spends two hours getting her hair and make up done to take the garbage out to the curb. She assured me she has no intention of taking it that far.

So it’s good. She’s combing her hair, finally, without badgering, but she’s not going to waste precious time in life in front of a mirror.

She was combing her hair this morning as I prepared for the final countdown before liftoff to school.

Her – “Do I look like I’m in a movie?”

Although I’m biased, she looked especially lovely this morning. Hair was combed, wearing a bright, frilly new skirt her Nonna just sent her. How to respond? Hmmm. I said her name with the best Spanish accent I could muster to give it glamour…

Me – “Isabella!”

She smiled and combed on…

Me – “Well, you look so beautiful that you belong in a movie.”

Not the ideal message about beauty. Usually, I tell her she’d look stunning dressed in garbage bags. But this was the best I could do at 6:45am.

We had just returned from Trader Joe’s. It was around 6pm, maybe 30 minutes before dinner. She had gotten herself five packs of dried seaweed and a box of soy ice cream bars at the store, and, seeing me unload the contents of the bags on the stove…

Her – “Ooh! Can I have a bar?”

Me – “Sure. You also have seaweed.”

I said it in a matter of fact way, not in a way that indicated any preference. Actually, I had no preference. Whatever she had now she wouldn’t have later

Her – “Seaweed! Seaweed!”

She walked off and flipped on the TV, and I heard herself say enthusiastically-

Her – “Good choice, Isabella!”

She heard me chuckle

Her – “Isn’t it a good choice?”

She asked without questioning herself.

Me – “It is a good choice.”

She’s on a roll today.

Earlier today, I made her a plant-based protein drink. She inhaled it and then followed it up with two glasses of water. I was surprised as I’m always after her to drink water.

Me – “Why are you drinking so much water?”

Her – “Because I want to be healthy!”

She loves her sweets, granted. But, at an early age, healthy eating is a high value. This is becoming more and more common with families and kids. Glad for it.

It didn’t help that Federer was playing in the Quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. While my daughter is more important, I think she can handle a little less snuggles for something that only comes once a year. In any case, I still spent time looking through a magazine of costumes, tickling her and saying affirmations. I just didn’t do a longer snuggle- more like long hugs and then checking the score. Finally…

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Welcome. Like countless parents, helping my child experience the best start to life that I can muster is my passion. Here I track meaningful, humorous and thought-provoking moments on the journey with my daughter.